1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a soup supplying apparatus for supplying customers with a prescribed sub-divided quantity of soup such as stew, soup, curry and miso soup accommodated in a vessel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a previously known soup supplying apparatus is described in Japanese Patent No. 3449554. This soup supplying apparatus is one in which sub-divided predetermined quantities of soup including substances and accommodated in the vessel are distributed to a plateware. The soup supplying apparatus includes a vessel having an opening, for accommodating a soup; an axis which is rotated by a prescribed driving force; an expandable linkage mechanism attached to the axis which rotates in the vessel; a ladle attached to a tip of the linkage mechanism and having a ladle-out mouth on the opening side of the vessel; and a ladle leaning means for leaning the ladle when the ladle reaches the opening of the vessel in synchronization with the rotation of the axis. In this apparatus, when the ladle in the vessel containing the soup rotates toward the side of the opening in synchronization with the axis, the soup is accommodated in the ladle. Further, when the ladle reaches the opening of the vessel, the ladle is leaned by the ladle leaning means so that the soup within the ladle is supplied into the plateware. In this way, subdivided quantities of soup are given to customers.
Further, this soup supplying apparatus is designed so that an operator can directly touch the mechanism for ladling the soup accommodated in the vessel using the ladle, the mechanism such as the vessel containing the soup, ladle, linkage mechanism, on which the soup is applied. Therefore, these components can be cleaned relatively easily. Further, the ladle of the apparatus incorporates a net-like separating means for passing the soup liquid when accommodating the soup thereby separating the substances and the soup liquid at a prescribed ratio. Therefore, the substances and soup liquid ladled up at a certain ratio can be sub-divided into platewares from the soup in the vessel.
Meanwhile, in the above described conventional soup supplying apparatus, when the soup accommodated in the vessel is sub-divided into the plateware, the ladle ladles up the soup in the vessel along the arc-shaped bottom wall of the vessel and leans in a state stopped at a prescribed position slightly protruding from the upper end of the vessel. Thus, the soup in the ladle is poured into the plateware. Therefore, when the ladle ladles up the soup past the upper end of the vessel, as the case may be, the soup pushed aside by the ladle in the vessel climbs over the upper end to spill outside the vessel, thereby soiling the apparatus. Further, the ladle leans in the neighborhood of the upper end of the vessel to pour the soup from the ladle-out mouth into the plateware. Therefore, the soup poured out may splash to soil the vessel.